What a Year!

Well my one year blog anniversary came & went without being noticed. I knew it was fast approaching but didn't realize I had let it slip by without mention. I thought I had started my blog in Jan. 2012, but I actually wrote my first post in the middle of Dec. 2011. So without further ado....

It has been one year (actually 1 yr. + 3 weeks) since I started this little blog. As I am looking back at the years projects I am amazed at the number of pieces we were able to do. Prepare to look at a lot of pictures! I'll begin with your favorites

MOST VIEWED:

# 1 Most viewed was Butter Yellow with a Hint of Chocolate.
What's so funny is that this post was the most viewed yet, I had to finally repaint the base of this piece (in cocoa) before it finally sold two months ago.

#2 Most viewed was Little French Vanity . This also happens to be one of my favorite graphics, I can't tell you how many times I've had to duplicate this look. 

#3 Most viewed was Re purposed Window.  This post was also the Most Featured.

 

#4 Most viewed was So Much Potential .  This table took me back to my artists painting days. Hard to believe this table still hasn't sold.

Most Featured:

 

#1 Most Featured was Re purposed Window.

 I had a lot of fun creating these windows & wrote a tutorial so you could create your own. Fun stuff!

#2 Most Featured was Color of the Week Duck Egg Blue.
The cabinet with the chicken wire was by far the most challenging of the year. When we bought it, it looked like a puzzle.

 
 #3 Most Featured was Corner Table Roadside Treasure.
This table was one of my favorites to paint. 

My Favorites:

  # 1 All time Favorite of mine is the Charming Chiffarobe.
I loved this piece even before I painted it. This one was so hard to part with but in the end I had to let her go before she was damaged beyond repair. 

#2 All time Favorite of mine is My Clock Face Obsession.
If you follow my blog you know about this little obsession of mine. I seem to repeatedly paint clock faces on table tops. 

  
 #3 All time Favorite of mine is Queen Anne Nesting Tables.
I love how these came out. These are also still available.

#4 All time Favorite of mine is Americana Bench
I purchased seven of these benches. Two were painted Americana style & five of them were painted French Country:

  

Best of all though was when I happened to catch a glimpse of my bench on TV during the "Sunday Morning" program.
 

 

Yep! That's my bench you see over Kid Rock's shoulder. 

You can read about that here.

I thought it would be fun to show you some "Never before seen" pieces that I never had a chance to post about thru the year. So here we go:

Never Before Seen:

Wow, as I'm scrolling down thru these pictures I realize just how busy we really were this past year. I would like to thank my Mom & my family for all their help, love & support. I truly would not be able to accomplish all this without them. I would also like to thank all the wonderful people who follow me & the people who leave such encouraging comments. It really helps to keep me focused & motivated.

I hope you have enjoyed a look at my year. I hope to keep up the pace & be able to share with you more posts of our work. As always, thanks for visiting & have a great week!  Dee

A Roadkill Feature

Happy Monday everyone!  My weekend started off on the right foot with a feature on Roadkill Rescue. Beckie featured my "Most Amazing Roadside Rescue" chair on Saturday. You can read about it here. 

I love this site. People are so talented out there in blog land. I am always checking it out for inspiration. If you have a make over project you are proud of, submit it. You never know, maybe you'll be featured.

Thanks Beckie for the feature, I am honored.  Have a great week everyone!  Dee

Sweet Little Writing Table

Hi Everyone! Hope all is well in your world. Sometime in December I found this adorable desk on Craig's List. It was the perfect size for what I had in mind. Here is how it looked when I pick it up:

Sorry for the crappy picture, it's from the CL ad. In my haste to get it started, I forgot to take a before picture.

I first had to give the whole thing a really good sanding. The old varnish was just chipping off all over the place & the top had issues. After the prep work was done, I gave it two coats of Duck Egg Blue. I love this color. Seems like everything I paint in this color sells quickly. Now we were ready for graphics.

Like I mentioned before, I had something in mind for this sweet little writing table. I have a favorite graphic I use a lot, so I go to the best source for vintage graphics "The Graphics Fairy". 

Here is what it looks like now:

So much better! 

Here's a closeup of the top.

I used my overhead projector for the image transfer. 

Available at Sassy Fabrics in Grand Blanc, MI

Then I used the same image & decoupaged it on the sides & inside the drawers. Now I needed a chair & I had just the one.

 

You may remember this chair from an earlier post. You can read about it here.  I knew they would look good together because they were the same color but, I hadn't realized what a perfect match they were until it set them together. The scrolly detail mimics the top on the table & the curvy legs also match the legs on the table. What a nice surprise! We put this cute little set right in the front window at Sassy Fabrics. Karen was very happy to see something fresh & new go in the window.  

I better get busy now painting a replacement, as I'm sure this Sweet Little Writing Table will sell shortly. Thanks for visiting & have a great day!  Dee

The Most Amazing Roadside Rescue

On a beautiful day this past fall, my Mom & I were on our way back from a delivery to Sassy Fabrics, when we spotted the most amazing chair just sitting there on the curb in the middle of someones yard.  It was obviously set out to the road.  My Mom & I spotted it at the same time & immediately whipped the truck around & gunned it. There was another woman slowing down in her car who had just past this "most amazing chair", & she was putting it in park & walking towards it. Needless to say, I beat her to it. Sometimes you just want it more then the next guy. Here is a before picture of this "most amazing chair":

Poor baby right after surgery..

You could tell that someone was just driving to fast & lost this chair out of the back of their truck. Can you imagine their surprise when they realized they had lost this beautiful chair? I assume a very nice person picked it up off the road & placed it in the yard (near the curb) of the house we found it sitting. Thank you kind stranger, you totally made our day!

Once we got her home I assessed the damage. Poor baby had road rash & some fine hair line cracks. Nothing we couldn't repair.  This chair is sooo heavy, but incredibly sturdy. After cleaning her up, sanding, gluing & patching we were ready for paint.

With all that great detail I wanted to do a light color that would really show it off.  We chose Old White. After a couple of coats, we gave it a coat of clear wax, then I used the dark wax in all the beautiful details. What a difference that made. Take a look!

Feathers or Fronds?

Beautiful chunky legs!

 I added a graphic to the cushion from The Graphics Fairy (my favorite graphic site ever!).  I used drop cloth fabric (also my favorite fabric for upholstery).

I love this extra large seat.

Available at Sassy Fabrics in Grand Blanc, MI

These pictures just don't do this Amazing Chair justice. It is so beautiful in person. I'm sure it will find a loving home very soon. So, that is my story about the "Most Amazing Roadside Rescue".

I wish you all Happy & Prosperous Rescues! Thanks for stopping by & Have a Great Weekend!! Dee

A Lesson Learned

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope you are all in the holiday spirit, I know I will be in about two more days. I've been working on a never ending custom job & it is nearly finished. Then I'll get into the Holiday swing.

Early in the spring a family friend gave us a very dated dining set. It was a table, four chairs & a buffet. I already showed you the buffet, you can read about it here.  The table is big & heavy & the chairs have that cane back. Two of the chairs had big holes punched in the caning.  Here is a picture of one of the chairs:

It was going to be impossible to repair & to expensive to replace, so I went with plan B.  I'm getting ahead of myself here, we first painted them Old White to match the buffet & did a clear wax on them. Here is the only before picture I have of the table (base), unfortunately I had already put one coat on it before I remembered to take the picture.

Now the dilemma with the chairs. I remembered Miss Mustard Seed had upholstered a caned back chair & used her tutorial as my guide, you can read about it here.  We went to our local upholstery shop & got some great advice on cost effective material & some tricks of the trade. My Mom & I plan on taking an upholstery class after the holidays, my hubby said he'd like to take it too. It'd be nice to know exactly what we are doing when it comes to this upholstery stuff.  Anyway, we used drop cloth fabric on the chairs. I of course had to add a graphic to the seat.  I seen the perfect one at The Graphics Fairy & added it to all four chairs. Here is how they turned out.



Front



Back

Don't you just love that scrolly detail.....

Compliments of The Graphics Fairy!

 All four in their new look....

I love the contrast of the white Gimp against the tan fabric, it really gives it that finished look.

One last look at all that hard work, approximately 25,000 staples & 500 glue sticks later....



Sold



Finally a complete set. They look pretty good together, don't you think!? We learned alot from doing this project. First, Don't be afraid of the unknown, do your homework & it's not so intimidating. Second, Get advice when you need it, makes the job so much easier. Third, once you've finished your project the next one will seem so do-able.  I hope this gives you some inspiration to give your scary project a try.  I'd love to hear about it.

 Thanks for visiting & take time to enjoy the Holidays!! Dee

An Eventful Week

Hello everyone! I hope you all have recovered nicely from your long holiday weekend & are settling in for a busy Christmas Season. I know I am.

This week started out pretty eventful. On Sunday morning I'm sitting at my computer surfing thru the linky parties, enjoying my morning cup of coffee while my husband is in the living room watching the "CBS Sunday Morning" program. All of a sudden he starts shouting "That's your bench!  Dee your bench is on T.V.!!, Kid Rock has your bench!". I'm totally confused. I get up & go into the living room to see what he's yelling about & can't believe my eyes.  There's Kid Rock being interviewed in the Living Room of his home & over his shoulder in the background is my Flag bench.

you tube video

 I'm freaking out! My mind in saying "It has to be my bench, no one is going to duplicate it & off center the back like mine was when it was built. If they were going to duplicate it they would have corrected that." So I pull up my pictures of this bench & compare them to what I see on the T.V. & they look exactly the same!  A couple of days later I make a delivery to Sassy Fabrics in Grand Blanc, where this bench was sold & I ask Karen (who sold it) if she seen this program? She says no, but that is your bench. It was confirmed! She sold it to Kid Rocks interior designer. She explained that celebrates were very private & she couldn't tell me who bought it when it sold. Woo Hoo!!  You see this bench at the top of my blog.

 So I am already on cloud nine when on Monday I check out The Graphics Fairy & there, being featured, is my "Menu" Dry Erase Board I posted about a couple of weeks ago.  I made it out of a Cabinet door, you can read about it here.  Everyone really seemed to love it because it was featured not one, not two but THREE times!! How awesome is that!? So I have some serious Thanking to do.

First, let me thank Karen at  The Graphics Fairy. She shares the most amazing graphics with us everyday. This is my go to graphic source.      

  

Secondly, let me thank Claire at The Rustic Pig. She has done some beautiful windows herself. 

And Thirdly, let me thank Karen at Redoux. She does some awesome re purposed pieces.

I think that makes for a very Eventful Week don'tcha think? I hope you all have a pleasant weekend & thanks for stopping by.  Dee